Today's Entertainment

Page 2 June 29 - July 5, 2015 executive producers of "Zoo." Patterson likes the show's summer schedul- ing, since he believes it has "a blockbuster quality to it. I think it'll be one of those 'Bet you can't eat Animals go on a worldwide rampage in CBS' 'Zoo' By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it "I'm sure there's a sim- ple explanation for all of this." So says the zoologist and African tour guide played by James Wolk ("Mad Men," "The Crazy Ones") early in "Zoo," but you just know the explanation won't be simple as animals begin launching unprovoked at - tacks on humans around the globe. The novel by best-selling author James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge gets a CBS series adaptation starting Tuesday, June 30, with Kristen Connolly ("The Whispers," "House of Cards") and Billy Burke ("Revolution," "Twilight") also starring as a reporter and a veterinary pathol - ogist who team to probe the deadly phenomenon. In Patterson's view, "Zoo" translates to televi- sion nicely. "I don't write for film," he maintains, "but I think the way I write can adapt pretty well because I write 'scene, scene, scene.' I think that makes it a little easier, but you never know what's going to happen out in Hollywood. I just go, 'If it happens, that'd be wonderful.' " Patterson allows the nature-on-the-rampage theme is a switch from his norm, but notes he's "particularly happy" about "Zoo" crossing mediums. "I created Alex Cross and I created 'Women's Mur- der Club,' but this is dif- ferent and unique. A lot of people who have read it have said, 'I've never read anything like that,' which is cool. Now I think people are going to go, 'I've never seen anything like that.' " Also featuring Non- so Anozie as Wolk's colleague and Nora Arnezeder as an attack survivor, "Zoo" is "a real honor" for Wolk to be part of, the amiable actor says. "People love James Patterson's books, and this one has a huge au- dience. To step into the role of someone they've imagined in their minds is a responsibility, and you just want to do a great job and bring some life to it — and bring your own take on it. You have to have confidence in the fact you were hired for a reason." It surely helps a "Zoo" star to be fond of and comfortable with animals, and Wolk is a dog owner. "I have a Shepherd-Rott- weiler mix, and she's beautiful," he reports, "but I never spent a lot of time with lions and bears, which is what we've done on this show. It's been very eye-opening. "I would say the cra- ziest day we had was being within inches of a Kodiak brown bear," Wolk adds. "There are trainers and it's super-safe, but at the same time, it's a bear. And you can't reason with a bear. They wouldn't put us in a situation where we felt threatened, but you definitely feel the power and the wild nature of the animals." Along with Patterson, filmmakers James Man- gold and Cathy Konrad ("Walk the Line,""Girl, In- terrupted") are among the The fifth and final season of TNT's sci-fi drama "Falling Skies" promises to bring closure in humanity's battle with aliens on a post-apocalyptic Earth. "This is the final battle," says Moon Bloodgood, who plays 2nd Mass pediatrician Anne Glass on the hourlong show that returns with the Season 5 opener on Sunday, June 28. "We are wrapping the show up. You know, you get to see one character really go off the deep end, and every character on our show gets a great storyline this year, obviously, because it's our last season and you want to see something happen with all these characters that you watched as a group. And you see certain relationships play out. I get to do some great stuff with characters that I had not really worked with as much before. And in the end, we get some answers." Last season, the Mason family (Bloodgood, Noah Wyle, Drew Roy, Connor Jessup and Maxim Knight) and the remaining 2nd Mass found themselves under attack by a new Espheni war machine and an extremely deadly creation. Forced to scatter to the wind, the survivors fought harder than ever to survive. As this season opens, the alien power core has been destroyed, all manner of beast and mutant are running wild, and the Espheni are forced to fight on the humans' terms. As the battle rages on, Bloodgood says some human characters will turn on each other and some will die. One teaser for this season shows Anne facing a firing squad – at the hands of fellow humans. "I can't believe they showed it ...," Bloodgood says. "So I'm being lined up with some other people and yeah, I'm about to be exterminated. I can't say, I guess, much more than that but yeah, it 's not the aliens. It's humans." "I'm always interested in watching shows where humans don't fight just against aliens," she continues, "they fight against each other because there's no way when you're dealing with circumstances like an alien invasion that all humans can be united. There's just too much fear and distrust that people can't always come together. "I think people turning on people is interesting because the one thing that we always say that we have over aliens is our humanity. Well if humans lose that and they turn on each other, then it becomes 'Lord of the Flies' and it's a much more compelling story to watch." BY GEORGE DICKIE 'Falling Skies' returns for closing season Moon Bloodgood The suspense series "Zoo" premieres Tuesday on CBS. just one' things, where people just keep watch- ing. "You hear all the time that old saw that the book is better than the movie," notes Patterson, "and the screenwriters say, 'Well, we only had two hours.' Well, in this case, they have 13 hours ... so there's no excuse. And it might well be bet- ter than the book."

• Cover